Operation Pierce

Operation Pierce was a US Army-led military operation which occurred in 1965 during the Vietnam War.

The Viet Cong guerrillas launched a major attack on the town of Cu Chi, near the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, overwhelming the South Vietnamese military police stationed there and taking over both the town and a nearby plantation. The US Army was sent in to recapture the town, with their advance being spearheaded by M113 APCs. Almost immediately, the Americans were pinned down in the central marketplace, with the Viet Cong guerrillas hurling grenades or firing RPGs at the APCs and destroying the American armored support. US infantry reinforcements dislodged the VC fighters in the town and forced them to retreat into the countryside, and they then captured a rice farm from the Viet Cong and pushed them back towards an old plantation. The Americans fought hard for the site, and, once it was captured, they discovered that the Viet Cong had been using the estate as a rocket site. The US Army continued its advance, pushing the Viet Cong back to their last bastion, a factory. The Americans captured the factory wall, but they were unable to push further, and they suffered too heavy losses to continue the operation. Both sides suffered heavy losses, and the Viet Cong claimed victory, although it had been forced back from most of its footholds in the Cu Chi area.